The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."

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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Belgian Attitudes Toward Jews

by Peter MartinoThe survey, conducted by Professor
Mark Elchardus also showed that Islamic anti-Jewish feelings are
widespread among all socio-economic and ethic groups, regardless of
whether the pupils are from richer or poorer families, or whether the
parents consider themselves moderate or traditionalist. This leads to
the conclusion that the anti-Jewish sentiments are caused by Islam, and
not by socio-economic factors.

Belgium, your average European country, sits the middle of Western
Europe, between Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands. This small
country of 11 million inhabitants houses both the headquarters of NATO
and the European Union. If one wants to know what life is like for Jews
today in Europe, the situation in Belgium is a significant measure.

As it happens, the situation is pretty bad. And worsening.
Last year, anti-Semitic abuse and violence rose by 30 percent, with 88
documented complaints, compared to 62 in the previous year. Because many
victims do not complain, the actual number of incidents is definitely
higher. The Belgian trend mirrors the situation in neighboring France,
which saw anti-Semitic attacks rise to 614 in 2012 from 389 in 2011. The
most serious incident was the murder of a rabbi and three Jewish schoolchildren by an Islamic fanatic in Toulouse in March 2012.

Last month, Joods Actueel, a Jewish monthly in the Belgian
city of Antwerp, which has a relatively large population of 20,000 Jews,
published the shocking results of a survey among almost 4,000
schoolchildren between 14 and 18 years old.

The survey, conducted by Mark Elchardus, a sociology professor at
Brussels University, showed that up to 75% of Muslim youths in the city
harbor anti-Semitic feelings.

Of all Muslim schoolchildren, 50.9 percent are in total and 24.5
percent in partial agreement with the statement that Jews incite to war
and blame others for it. Asked whether they think that Jews consider
themselves better than other people, 49.3 percent of the Muslims youth
totally and 23.6 percent partially agreed. Other statements generated
similar results. 45.1 percent totally and 27.9 percent partially agree
with the statement that Jews want to dominate. And 35.4 percent totally
and 37.6 percent partially agree with the statement that Jews have too
much influence in Belgium.

Prof. Elchardus concluded that 45 to 50 percent of Muslim
schoolchildren could be labeled anti-Semitic. Of the non-Muslim
schoolchildren only 10 percent could be labeled as such. The anti-Jewish
feelings among non-Muslim children are only slightly lower than the 12
percent who look unfavorably upon Muslims, considering every Muslim a
potential terrorist.

The situation is particularly worrying because today a growing
percentage of the young population in Antwerp, a traditionally Catholic
city, is Muslim. In municipal schools in the city, pupils have to choose
between religious classes or non-confessional morality classes. 49.3
percent of all pupils choose Islamic religious classes, 27.7 percent
choose non-confessional classes, while the number opting for Catholic
classes has dropped to a mere 20.5 percent. Five years ago, the Islamic
percentage was only 33.6.

Only 17 pupils opted for Jewish classes, an insignificant number
compared to the 5,165 Muslim pupils. About 85 percent of Jewish children
in Antwerp, however, attend Jewish schools. Antwerp has 14 subsidized
Jewish schools plus a number of non-subsidized private schools.

The survey conducted by Prof. Elchardus also showed that Islamic
anti-Jewish feelings are widespread among all socio-economic and ethnic
groups, regardless of whether the pupils are from richer or poorer
families, whether the parents consider themselves moderate and
progressive or traditionalist, or whether they are of North African or
Turkish origin. This leads to the conclusion that the anti-Jewish
sentiments are caused by Islam, and not by socio-economic factors.

Among the non-Muslims, anti-Jewish feelings were more widespread
among the non-religious group, while children from a Catholic background
proved to be the least anti-Semitic, despite the fact that they tended
to be more conservative and less progressive.

Asked to react to the survey, Pascal Smet, the Belgian Education
minister, said that the survey proved that "youths with a negative view
of others are also those youths who are from the most vulnerable
socio-economic background." If anything, however, as Joods Actueel
pointed out, the survey showed exactly the opposite. The magazine
criticized the minister, who is a homosexual, for devoting too much
attention to the gay rights agenda in Belgium's schools, while
neglecting the anti-Jewish stereotypes of Islam.

The Belgian press, too, devoted little attention to the survey.
Perhaps the survey's results were not considered politically correct
enough. Moreover, most media attention was devoted to the fact that 25
percent of Muslim youths condone violence against homosexuals and
support the death penalty for gays in Islamic countries. For the media,
anti-Jewish sentiments are far less important than feelings of animosity
against gays.